Kids slept for over an hour on mindfulness training, studies find

“Children who reported using the technique more often, out of class and at home, had a greater increase in sleep during the period we studied,” O’Hara said.

In stark contrast, children who did not receive mindfulness training lost nearly 64 minutes of sleep in the same two years.

Christina Chick, a postdoctoral researcher in psychiatry and behavioral science, said: At Stanford.

“Older kids may be awake to do their homework, talk to friends, or send text messages,” Crick added. “Our findings mean that the curriculum was protective in that it taught skills that helped protect them from sleep loss.”

Sleep is important for young people

“Children and adolescents who do not get enough sleep are at increased risk of many health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, poor mental health, and injuries.” According to the CDC. “They are also likely to have attention and behavioral problems, which can lead to poor academic performance at school.”

Breath of “starfish” and “sea”

The survey recruited 1,000 third- and fifth-grade students from two school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area’s low-income community. Many of the children’s families received food stamps below poverty level and all children participated in school lunch programs.

Studies show that sleep can be especially problematic for children living in poverty due to crowded and unstable housing, food insecurity, and the potential for higher levels of crime.

“You need to relax to fall asleep, but they struggle to let go of the experience,” said a study, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry who directs Stanford University’s early life stress and resilience programs. Said Dr. Victor Karion, a senior researcher at Stanford University.

“They may not feel safe and may have nightmares and fears at night,” Karion said in a statement, starting research to help young people manage the effects of life in stressful environments. He said he did.

As part of the study, one school district served as a control group. We do not provide mindfulness education in physical education (PE) classes.

Twice a week, children were taught how to recognize and deal with stress in breathing exercises, yoga-based movements, and physical education classes. They practiced traditional PE for the other three days.

“Bringing awareness to the current moment, paying attention to the body’s sensations of stress, and recognizing how it affects their mood was one focus of training,” Crick said. It was.

“Alongside the practice of mindfulness, it was to teach children what stress was and to recognize it in their environment,” Chick added.

Hearty breathing was taught in an age-appropriate way. For example, according to Chick, children in grades 3-5 are taught “starfish breathing” and “imagine their hands as starfish and track them by inhaling and exhaling their fingers.” ..

6th to 12th grade children I was taught “Breath of the Sea”. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, as if you were clouding the mirror. “

“Children were taught that through this kind of careful breathing, they could” hack “the brain and nervous system by calming parts of the normally automatic nervous system,” Chick explained. “In this way, they were taught how to actively participate in their health.”

The first study to objectively measure sleep

Of the 1,000 children who participated in the study, 58 who received the curriculum and 57 in the control group were recruited for home measurement of brain activity during sleep.

“It was like a mobile sleep lab,” Chick said. “We went to their homes, set up sleep monitors, put electrode caps on each child’s head to measure their sleep cycle, and also their breathing, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels. I measured it. “

According to O’Hara, this is the first study to use objective sleep measurements rather than relying on an explanation of how well a child slept.

“Our study was the first to use this external polysomnography system, a gold standard for measuring sleep architecture, in combination with a curriculum that actually targets attention in a school environment. It was, “she said.

In addition to an overall 74-minute increase in sleep, the children who slept the most during the study also reported increased stress. The mindfulness curriculum helped us understand what stress is, Chick said.

“Students reported that they were actually using a lot of stress-relief technology and even brought it into their home environment,” Crick said. There are some quotes from the students, such as “If my mom is stressed, I should take a deep breath.” “

Researchers at Stanford University will continue to analyze the data collected from the study to see if extra sleep also affects their child’s academic performance, with such a mindset in other school districts across the country. We would like to encourage the implementation of fullness training.

“Given that the curriculum is available Free to school. Parents are strongly encouraged to advocate for the school district to implement this or similar program, “said O’Hara.